Students broken-hearted most what the new SAT holds will be able to get their first glimpse at the newly redesigned exam in a serial of free practise tests that launched Tuesday by online educational video provider Khan Academy.

The launch comes near a year after the Higher Board announced it was redesigning the Saturday, which hundreds of universities use in admissions decisions. Officials say the new test is more grounded in the skills and abilities students will demand in college and is improve aligned to what students acquire in the classroom.

"Everything we're doing today is to make information technology easier for students to navigate this territory," College Lath President David Coleman said during a media briefing announcing the launch of the costless service. "… I recollect students tin today with neat confidence know that the new Saturday is not a difference from what they've been learning. It's going to focus on the very things they've been doing all forth in their classroom, and now they have gratis tools where they can actually practice in depth wherever they experience weakest."

The online materials – offered gratuitous for any student who logs into KhanAcademy.org – also represent a departure from previous exam prep services, which oft required students to buy pricey practice books or hire expensive tutors to bone up for the Saturday. The preparation services offered by outside providers raised equity concerns, with many low-income students beingness priced out of the services.

"Nosotros're starting to level the playing field," said Khan Academy Founder Sal Khan.

Students who visit the Khan Academy website volition find thousands of practice questions that are aligned closely to the SAT. Khan Academy worked closely with SAT exam developers to create the exercise questions, so students volition see examples of the same types of questions they'll face on the test.

The practice tests are besides interactive, and will provide students immediate feedback on particular skill areas they need to piece of work on, and will include instructional videos and additional tools to help students beef upwards in their weakest skill areas and get comfortable with the test.

Students can visit the site equally often as they wish to help them learn the fabric, both for the SAT and the PSAT practice test often taken past students in their sophomore yr.

Coleman, appointed Higher Lath president in 2012, was a driving strength in revamping the test to more closely align it with what students are learning. Coleman was also closely involved in writing the Common Core State Standards, which accept been adopted by California and 42 other states.

To help ensure that the widest number of students possible take access to the new practice tests, the College Board and Khan Academy are partnering with community groups, schools and nonprofits to help bring the practice tests to students.

One of the biggest partners is the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, which will offer special preparation to its educators to help introduce students to the online tests. Five Boys & Girls Clubs locations are already offering the exercise tests in a pilot plan, with additional clubs planning to join over the summer. The Boys & Girls Clubs serve more than than 4 million students a twelvemonth at 4,100 clubhouses beyond the nation.

"We're ensuring that young people, especially those in underserved communities, are not just hearing most these tools, merely are being walked into a relationship on how to utilize them," said Damon Williams, senior vice president of youth development services at the Boys & Girls Clubs.

The new SAT will be offered for the first time in March 2016. The English language section requires more analysis of texts, requiring students to interpret meaning and demonstrate their answers. The lists of obscure vocabulary words take been removed, and the essay section is now optional.

The math section focuses on trouble solving and data assay, algebra skills and advanced math.

The new examination is also shorter than its predecessor – iii hours, instead of three hours and 45 minutes – and the top score is once more 1600; the summit score had increased to 2400 when the essay was added in 2005.

January 2022 is the last sitting of the current Saturday.

Khan University offers some test prep services for the current SAT, but they aren't as robust as the practice offered for the new test, officials said.

Coleman said he hopes the new materials available at Khan Academy volition accept some of the mystery and fright out of prepping for the SAT, and will give more students the tools they'll need to do their best on the exam.

"We promise the redesign is actually going to try to calm the waters a bit," he said, "and allow students to do productive work rather than unproductive worry."

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